Thread: .17HMR Set up for rabbit culling.

I’ve got a Marlin 917VR Heavy barrel, use the Hornady .17grVMAX without any issues, get them bulk at Reloaders.
Only used the 20gr solids on goats.
Installed a 4-16x42 scope last year and haven’t even sighted it in, too busy.

IMO, if your gonna go thermal, you might as well stick with a .22LR suppressed and spot light them.
I also wouldn’t suppress my HMR, it deserves to breath and bark.

One piece of advice, shorten the barrel if your going to shoot out of a vehicle, mine was a pita getting in and out of the truck with a full length barrel and suppressor.

This mate in 16" barrel chuck a dpt suppressor on it job done.
https://www.guncity.com/17hmr-cz-455...e-brake-367896

I like the 17hmr as well for the shooting I am doing.
CZ are good out of the box, I am a fan of them and I was going to go that way.
! But had a few things to consider for myself.
1.Weight
2..length of barrel.
3...Mag options.
4....Synthetic or wooden stock.
5.Action! Semi or bolt. These are my first considerations.
Quite a few rifles meet these points.
Weight is the biggest factor for myself and this is reduced by barrel and stock mostly.
The barrel! some like bull barrels, well to heavy for me and I found the thin profile 16" barrel doesn't flex just like a heavy barrel.
If you are using some type of night vision, you won't want to be lifting a heavy rifle to your eye every couple of minutes.
The stock I went synthetic with a plus! an extra 10 shot mag in the butt plate.
I wanted a semi, but reviews and the guns that got returned because of a problem, slowed that idea at the time.
So went bolt, T bolt and lefty for a right handed shooter after a suggestion from Greyhud and then playing off my shooting sticks in the shop, seemed to work well for me with my right staying in position to take another shot if needed.
This is my journey into the 17hmr.
Browning T Bolt came with two 10 shot mags and a great design they are as well, mags easy to load and unload.
I think it's one of the lightest rifles I have, one thing that didn't sit with me was the trigger! it's set with no adjustment! But like anything you adapt and it's no longer a concern.
Those 20gr Mr Browning uses I haven't tried, I will at some point.
But I started with the hornady 17gr and after all it's a 17hmr and they do blow up well! I haven't seen a ricochet yet either.
I have shot hares, possum, geese but it's mainly a rabbit rifle. A couple mentioned on the list are marginal! but you take the shot with what's in the hand at the time.I would say most who use the 17hmr like it for the reason they brought it.! Me :A light weight flat rabbit shooter with a explosive round that dumps it's energy in the game.

Deadidick, As for thermal on a 17hmr nice to be able to spend that much, I have experienced one problem with thermal depth of field.
On any night shooting you have to be able to identify the target and firing zone correctly, that there is no grass, bush's, sticks in the way of the shot.
From personal experience my mate said one night there's a possum in the tree, I took a look through the thermal and yes could see it plain as day, I then went to my night vision and all I could see was trees and branches, the possum after a considerable looking was three trees in and in high density cover.
Point is no rifle could of made that shot, the targets firing zone wasn't correctly identified by the thermal, personally for rabbits if not in open countryside night vision is better for identification and the thermal for spotting would be my suggestion.
The 17hmr needs a clear line of sight,no grass brush etc,the only way to see this is a good light or night vision.
KH

It would be interesting to see how you go with a thermal scope on the .22 before you drop any coin on new rifles. I'm using a NV scope and suppressed .22, and have lots of shots on rabbits only a few meters apart from each other, without the others even looking up from what they are doing.
If a rabbit is more than 50m away, I just walk closer - the joy of working in the dark.
Ricochet management is always a challenge with a 22, but I have found the CCI segmented subs do a good gob of mitigating this. Shame they cost so much!

I have a CZ455, beauty of it is I picked up the 3 barrel combo, so one gun 3 calibers .22LR, .22WMR, .17HMR

I tend to run the .17HMR the most, from the bench in zero wind I'll get thumbnail sized groups at 100m, its a fantastically accurate gun, and the 17gn CCI A17 rounds run great,
Shot over a chronograph last week, 16 shots average Velocity was 2683 FPS,
But that said cost of the .17HMR Rounds can be up around 65-70 cent per round compared to a 22lr its a lot more expensive to run.
But in bulk cheep .223 isn't much more expensive than your .17hmr rounds, but far less issues with wind.
If your hunting rabbits for pest control and not worried about mincing the meat, I'd skip past the .17 and jump up to a .223.